Tag: london

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Looks can be deceiving

Now I like trying out new places, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Kleftiko is relatively new on the food scene, they had taken over the Vietnamese place, Moi An, that used to be on Fetter Lane.

They have an authentic menu with a wide range of choices. I was given a lovely warm welcome and I took some time to peruse the menu. I went with one of their bowls with pulled lamb kleftiko. It came with chips, rice, and Greek salad.

From an appearance perspective the lamb didn’t look that appealing, however it was very tasty. The rest of the bowl was just as delicious.

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Fiorentina Pizza

I was staying at the Drayton Court Hotel and was having dinner in their restaurant.

After a disappointing ravioli I was hoping that the pizza I had ordered would be better. 

I have had the Fiorentina Pizza from Drayton Court before.

This was an excellent generous pizza. A great base, cooked well, and delicious toppings. The dough was crisp with a soft centre, the toppings were full of flavour and there was just the right amount of tomato and cheese. The egg was a little overcooked for my preference, but this didn’t detract from the whole pizza eating experience.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. The Drayton Court Hotel however has a proper pizza oven and use proper fresh pizza bases. So, I was quietly looking forward to see what I would get.

The pizza toppings were spinach, mushrooms, olives, and an egg. It looked really nice.

pizza

I did not enjoy the pizza as much as I thought I would. I think they may have used vegan cheese on my pizza, as there was a slightly odd taste to the pizza and the cheese did not feel or taste like cheese.

Overall I wasn’t that impressed with the food that night, which is unusual, as I have had some great food from Drayton Court in the past.

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Crab Ravioli

Did think about going out to the fish restaurant in Ealing but decided in the end to go down to the  Drayton Court Hotel restaurant. I had some crab ravioli and a pizza.

I really liked the sound of the Crab Ravioli on the specials menu, it said it would come with some seafood foam…

Crab Ravioli

The dish was not quite what I expected. The ravioli was nice, but the tomato based sauce was overpowering. I did enjoy the addition of the samphire though. Overall not a dish that I would order again, a lost opportunity there.

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Tempura Prawns in a Lobster Sauce

One of the hotels I stay at in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. I was there in January staying just the one night. The last time I had been there was in May 2024. Since I was last there, they had done a load of refurbishment. There was a new larger reception area, and the rooms had been refreshed.

The food menu though was very similar. For my main I went with a pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil which I have reviewed here. For a small plate alongside I went with the tempura prawns in a lobster sauce. Now this sounded like a real treat.

Tempura Prawns in a Lobster Sauce

Alas it wasn’t.

The prawns were terrible and the so-called lobster sauce was horrible. The prawns did have a crispy batter, but it was quite greasy. The sauce did not have any flavour of lobster and tasted like tomato puree.

I did not enjoy the dish and did not finish it. 

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Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

Buffalo Mozzarella Pizza

One of the hotels I stay at in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing. I was there in January staying just the one night. The last time I had been there was in May 2024. Since I was last there, they had done a load of refurbishment. There was a new larger reception area, and the rooms had been refreshed.

The food menu though was very similar. I went with a pizza with buffalo mozzarella, tomato and basil.

I usually avoid pizza in hotels as they usually use pre-cooked bases, or even prepared pizza. I remember once having a pizza at the Doubletree Hilton and being very unimpressed with that pizza. 

What I like about the Drayton Court Hotel, it has a proper pizza oven and use proper pizza bases.

This was a delicious fresh pizza. The addition of the fresh tomatoes was something I wasn’t expecting. 

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Wagamama in the heart of the city

I do like the food at Wagamama, though I like trying new things, I also like having what I had before. On a recent visit to Wagamama in the City of London,  I went with two dishes I had before. For my starter I went with the crispy otsumami. 

This is six squares of crispy fried rice soaked in a soy + yuzu dressing, topped with pulled shiitake mushroom, smashed avocado + edamame and sriracha mayo, garnished with coriander cress.

I had these before when I went to Wagamama in Basildon. I did think this time they were even better. They are tasty morsels of yum! I like the different textures and the flavours combine to create an extravaganza of different tastes within your mouth.

 For my main I went with the silken tofu gochujang rice bowl. I had this before in Ealing in 2023. This is silken tofu in a spicy gochujang glaze on a bed of sticky white rice, bok choi, pickled cucumber, snow onion slaw, red and spring onion, red chilli, sesame seeds.

I like the contrast between hot and cold ingredients in this bowl. There are a diverse range of complementary flavours within the bowl. Overall a tasty dish.

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Wahaca for One

I had really enjoyed my last meal at Wahaca at Paddington, so had thought about going again at some point.

Arrived in London and went to Wahaca for lunch. They do a deal for one, which looked nice. Better than a sandwich. Initially I thought do I want to go there, as it was quite early, just approaching midday. But then I thought, what was the alternative? A sandwich from Pret? So headed on up the stairs. I was the first person in the restaurant. However, by the time my food arrived twenty minutes later, the place was packed.

What you got was:

      • Guacamole & Tortilla Chips
      • Smoky Sonoran Hummus
      • Sweet Potato & Feta Taquito
      • Two tacos of your choice, I went for the Buttermilk Chicken Taco and the Beef Gringa Taco.

I loved the way the food was presented on a wooden board.

The guacamole tasted nice and fresh, and it was nice to have the mixed tortilla chips as well. I really liked the smoky Sonoran hummus, not too smoky, but I liked the addition of the sunflower seeds. The Sonoran hummus is a Mexican hummus, made with roasted vegetables, chickpeas, guajillo and herbs, drizzled with chilli oil.

At the heart of the board was a sweet potato & feta taquito. There was a variety of textures and flavours in this taquito. It came with caramelised onion, salsas and chipotle mayo, and was served in a crisp blue corn tortilla. The crunch of the rolled taco and the smooth sweet potato made this a tasty treat.

I had gone for the buttermilk chicken taco and the beef gringa taco. You got one of each. The gringa taco was slow-cooked British grass-fed beef with grilled cheese and salsa fresca, in a soft corn tortilla. The beef was tender and full of flavour.

The buttermilk chicken taco was chicken crispy fried in WildFarmed flour with pink pickled onions and spiced mayo, in a soft flour tortilla.

It was a great meal, really tasty. Service was excellent as well.

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Back to Wahaca

I was travelling back from London and rather than catch a busy peak train, I decided I would have some dinner and catch a later train. The other option was to catch a busy train, probably stand or be cramped, and then cook when I got home. So dinner it was, and I had already made up my mind to visit Wahaca.  I had heard about the branch at Wahaca at Paddington when it opened, but I hadn’t had the chance, or the opportunity to make a visit until this week.

It’s just outside the station and upon entering the restaurant you climb a set of stairs to get to the tables. Even though it was early the place was buzzing and quite busy. I was initially offered a seat at the bar, but as I wanted food and not a drink, I asked for a table.

I sat down and looked over the menu. I had a voucher for a free portion of tacos, so that was the first area of the menu I went through. I was tempted by the buttermilk chicken tacos, but went with the Ancho Mushroom Tacos, with jalapeño mayo, beetroot crisps and dressed slaw, in two soft corn tortillas

I had really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos when I had them a few years ago. So that was next on my list of choices. I went for the veggie version, as I didn’t think the addition of the chorizo really added that much to the dish, and the veggie dish was cheaper as well.

My final choice was the Zesty Bean & Feta Tostadas, with chickpeas, borlotti beans and organic peas with fresh tomato salsa. I had hoped they would have the crab tostadas they use to have on the menu, but they didn’t.

The nachos arrived first and I was a little surprised by the size of the dish. Either the dish was smaller when I had it a few years ago, having made my own version of this plate, I was expecting something smaller, or more than likely I had just plain forgotten how large the dish was. 

There was plenty of crunchy tortilla chips, a large helping of guacamole, black beans, crema, pink pickled onions, cheese sauce, fresh tomato salsa and jalapeño. I left the jalapeño, but the rest of the dish was delicious.

I really enjoyed the Zesty Bean & Feta Tostadas, full of flavour and contrasting textures of crunchy tostadas and soft beans.

The Ancho Mushroom Tacos were really tasty, I liked the mushrooms and the intensity of flavours across the two tacos.

I really enjoyed all three dishes and the experience reminded me how much I enjoy the food at Wahaca. Service was excellent, warm, friendly and efficient. It’s a real pity that the branch in Bristol closed, as it would be nice to have somewhere local to visit.

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Time for Tapas from Reinata

Dickens Yard reflection

Across Ealing there are various places to go out and eat. As well as chains, there are a range of independent places to eat. One of the nice things is that as a result there are lots of choices when you’re hungry. I often choose the independent places and one such place was in the (relatively) new Dickens Yard complex. I first went to Reinata back in June 2023 where I had a nice meal. However it wasn’t really a place to go out and eat on your own, as the tapas portions are quite substantial. Having said that and feeling quite hungry I headed over to Reinata for dinner. I went with two tapas dishes and some bread. These were large “small” plates of food.

I had the Octopus, Galician style, potatoes, paprika. 

I had this dish before, but this was different to the dish I had back then.  The last time I had this dish at Reinata it looked like this. This was a very different dish to one I had this time.

This time the dish was sliced potatoes cooked in the oven and on top was slices of grilled octopus. The octopus was tender and full of flavour.

The other dish I has was the  Andalusian Fritters, sherry marinated white fish and squid. 

This was breaded fish and squid. It was nice and fresh. I think it needed something more than lime though.

Both were large dishes and would be ideal to share, on my own it felt a little greedy. I do feel that the quality and presentation of the food was not as good as it was on my previous visit.

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Lamb Chops from Tony’s Pita

Over the years I have been visiting Ealing, I have been meaning to visit Tony’s Pita. I quite like a kebab now and then. On a recent visit I took the time to eat there. I did think about the kebab, but in the end I went with the lamb chops. These were cooked on the chargrill to order. They were served with chipped potatoes, flat bread, and salad.

These were, I think, shoulder chops, so were not the best quality lamb chops you can get. However it was a tasty plate of food and I enjoyed it. I think I would go back and try one of the other dishes on the menu.